Helen BrowningChief Executive
From small acorns…how 5 schools and an amazing cook inspired a food
revolution in our schools
Food for Life Schools: what does ‘good’ look like?
Bronze: Dringhouses Primary, York
• School lunch is central to the school day
• Bronze quality meal service delivered by ISS
• Farm visits • Cooking classroom• School allotment and
greenhouse• FFL = route to parental
engagement
Silver: Eastfield Primary
Supported by FFL commission, funded by Leicestershire County Council (Public Health)• Area of high social need• Created a working farm to improve
attendance and attainment• Prioritises outdoor education• Silver catering service (County
Council)• Saw FFL as a route to embedding
and connecting this work• Achieved Bronze and Silver within a
year
Eastfield Primary – A Whole School Approach
Local producers and small businesses – as well as pupils - sell from the school at a regular series of Food Fayres
Teachers have participated in FFL training courses which has particularly benefitted teachers’ classroom cooking confidence
Pupil voice is key – food is a standing priority agenda item on the school council agenda.
Produce from the school garden – including eggs – are available to the school community.
Gold: Haworth Primary, W.Yorks
• FFL flagship school in 2008, Silver award in 2010, Gold award in 2012
• Went from bottom 5% of schools in 2006 to top 5% in 2012 – integration of FFL action framework was key to school improvement
• FFL supported whole school improvement – health, attainment, attendance, enjoyment, engagement – purposeful learning
Gold: Community and Partnerships• At Gold level, we expect schools to be
ambassadors for good food in their communities
• Partnerships with local stakeholders are key – old people’s homes, local medical centres, children’s centres, food businesses & farms
• Haworth has involved parents in curriculum and extra-curricular cooking (dads cooking club)
• Parents have work evenings to build raised beds / make improvements, are fed and provided with veg and recipes
• The school benefits greatly from reciprocal relationships• FFL evidence base demonstrates the impact this approach can have on community health
Gold: embedding a positive food culture
• Work to embed a positive food culture must be sustainable over time – a resilient system
• Haworth has ‘fixed’ this culture in place through:
Distributed management of FFL – shared vision
FFL performance management targets built into all staff development plans
School Development Plan based around FFL-led creative curriculum
Planning sessions each year begin with building in time for cooking, growing and farm visits
Headteachers leading the process• Process often kick-started by other
staff member• Needs to be ultimately led by
Headteacher• Heads value whole-school benefits
– documented by FFL evidence base
• School meal take-up, community engagement, purposeful and inclusive learning
• Cross-curricular approach• Staff development• Sowing together of school
community, from site-manager to local businesses
Pupils and parents
• Parents – soft way to engage with school
• Healthy school meals, positive school meal times, food education
• Pupils – respect for their ideas (ideas actioned)
• Practical, purposeful education that brings learning to life
• Food ethics – ideas in practice• Community engagement – inter-
generational work, business links
• Enterprise
Catering staff – the benefits
• FFL initiated by a school cook – inherent value
• Training• Pupils more likely to
make healthier choices, and waste less when educated about food in the classroom
• Cohesive approach amongst catering staff
• Catering staff involved in wider school development – SNAG
• 7,229 schools
• 291 Nurseries
• Over 24% of Universities have applied or achieved the Catering
Mark
• 159 Residential care homes
• 27,112 Catering Mark meals being served daily in UK hospitals.
• 36 Visitor Attractions, Restaurants and Venues
• 7,650 people eating Catering Mark meals across 30 workplaces
daily
• Total number of Catering Mark meals eaten per day: 1.15m
• 59% of all meals are served to silver and gold standards
• 49% of all CM licences are silver and gold
The Catering Mark today